Roundtable
Series on A.A.âs Biblical Roots(November
2001)
By Dick B.

Session
3
Akron A.A. Pioneers, Their âProgram,â
and Their Good Book

Dr.
Bob and the Good Book Answer

In
1948, at his last major talk to AAs,
Dr. Bob made these important statements
about the Bible:

In the early days . . . our stories
didnât amount to anything to speak
of. When we started in on Bill D.
[Bill Dotson was A.A. Number Three],
we had no Twelve Steps either; we
had no Traditions. But we were convinced
that the answer to our problems was
in the Good Book. . . . It wasnât
until 1938 that the teachings and
efforts and studies that had been
going on were crystallized in the
form of the Twelve Steps. I didnât
write the Twelve Steps. I had nothing
to do with the writing of them. .
. . We already had the basic ideas,
though not in terse and tangible form.
We got them, as I said, as a result
of our study of the Good Book [The
Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous
Biographical sketches Their last major
talks, pp. 13-14].

The
Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous
and the Bible Emphasis

A.A.âs
Akron Genesis really began with Dr.
Bob, his Christian church activities
as a youngster, and his excellent
Bible training as a youth in church
and in Christian Endeavor.

Dr. Bob was born and raised in St.
Johnsbury, Vermont. His parents were
pillars of the North Congregational
Church in St. Johnsbury. From childhood
through high school, Bob each week
attended the Congregational church,
its Sunday School, evening service,
Monday night Christian Endeavor, and
sometimes its Wednesday evening prayer
meeting. This was likely at the insistence
of his mother. Yet, Bob continued
membership in Christian churches most
of his life: First, there was St.
Johnsbury Congregational in his youth.
Then, possibly St. Lukeâs Protestant
Episcopal Church. Then, probably the
Church of Our Saviour in Akron, where
his kids attended Sunday School. Then,
for sure, Akronâs Westminster Presbyterian
Church where Dr. Bob and Anne Smith
were charter members from June 3,
1936 to April 3, 1942. Finally, a
year before his death, Dr. Bob became
a communicant at St. Paulâs Episcopal
Church in Akron.

Dr. Bob told AAs he had nothing to
do with writing the Twelve Steps.
Nor did he have much to do with the
writing of A.A.âs basic text, the
âBig Book,â other than to review the
draft manuscripts as Bill Wilson passed
them to Bob for approval prior to
publication in the Spring of 1939.
But Dr. Bob did make some very clear
statements about the Bible and A.A.
And it was in Akron where A.A.âs basic
biblical ideas were honed, tried,
and then later put into terse and
tangible form at Bill Wilsonâs hands.

Dr. Bob said A.A.âs basic ideas came
from the Bible. Dr. Bob and Bill each
stated quite often that Jesusâs sermon
on the mount contained the underlying
spiritual philosophy of A.A. And Dr.
Bob often read to AAs from those Bible
passages. He pointed out that the
A.A. slogans âFirst Things Firstâ
and âEasy Does Itâ were taken respectively
from Matthew 6:33 and 6:34 in the
Sermon. When someone asked Dr. Bob
a question about the A.A. program,
his usual response was: âWhat does
it say in the Good Book?â He declared
that A.A. pioneers were âconvinced
that the answer to their problems
was in the Good Book.â He added: âTo
some of us older ones, the parts we
found absolutely essential were the
Sermon on the Mount, the 13th chapter
of First Corinthians, and the Book
of James.â In fact, Bill Wilson said
that James was so popular with the
pioneers that many favored calling
the A.A. fellowship âThe James Clubâ
[Pass It On, p. 147].

The Biblical emphasis in A.A.âs Akron
Group Number One involved much more
than the points just covered.. Akron
meetings opened with prayer. As mentioned,
they were called âold fashioned prayer
meetings.â Bible devotionals such
as The Upper Room, My Utmost for His
Highest, and The Runnerâs Bible were
regular fare at the meetingsâ-and
also in individual Quiet Times, and
Quiet Times with Anne Smith each morning
at the Smith home. Quiet Time itself
had distinct Biblical roots.

Almost invariably, Scripture was regularly
read at meetings. In addition, Scripture
passages, both from devotionals and
from the Good Book itself, were often
the fountainhead for topics discussed
at pioneer meetings. Bible study was
particularly stressed for all. Dr.
Bob called every meeting of early
A.A. a âChristian Fellowship;â and
early A.A. was in fact a constituent
part of âA First Century Christian
Fellowship.â As has been detailed
in my many titles, every single Twelve
Step idea can be traced to specific
Bible verses and segments read or
quoted in early A.A.. Furthermore,
early Akron AAs were required to âSurrender.â
This meant accepting on oneâs knees
Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
Older members then prayed with newcomers
in the manner specified in James 5:16.

And how did all such Bible material
wind up in A.A.? Certainly not from,
nor properly described as traveling
through, Bill Wilson. It was the daily
grist of the Akron experimental work
to deliver drunks. Particularly the
work in the summer of 1935 and often
thereafter where Bill Wilson actually
was in attendance.

There is a final point. One that really
marks the beginning of the Akron Genesis.
The details were only recently unearthed
in my research. My focus has been
on Christian Endeavor, the world-wide
Christian church movement for youth,
to which Dr. Bob belonged as a youngster.
That movement, its practices, and
principles can be seen as having great
impact on many of the basic and unique
aspects of Akron A.A.. These special
Akron features differed substantially
from the Oxford Group approaches and
principles with which Bill Wilson
had been indoctrinated on the East
Coast. They did not involve the Four
Absolutes, nor the 5 Câs, nor âRestitution,â
nor âGuidance,â nor âsharing for witness,â
nor other distinctly Oxford Group
ideas with which Bob and Bill were
both familiar from their respective
Oxford Group connections.

The Akron prayer meetings, Bible studies,
discussions from devotional literature,
confessions of Christ, encouragement
as to church affiliation and Christian
outreach were a distinct characteristic
of the Akron program. They were not
emphasized in New York. They seemingly
demonstrate a powerful Christian Endeavor
influence on Dr. Bobâparticularly
because he specifically mentioned
his Christian Endeavor membership
and because that movement began as
a unique product of Dr. Bobâs own
New England area [See Francis E. Clark,
Christian Endeavor in All Lands; Amos
R. Wells, Expert Endeavor: A Text-book
of Christian Endeavor Methods and
Principles].

The
Basic Biblical Tools of the Pioneersâ
Program

And
of what did their basic program consist?
They had the Bible, and they had the
Oxford Group principles. These they
studied and incorporated into their
very simple spiritual program of recovery.
They usually hospitalized the newcomer,
shared their victories with him, left
him with only a Bible for reading,
and had him surrender to God before
he was discharged, after only a few
days of hospitalization. They usually
handed him a copy of The Upper Room.
Then they introduced him to others.
He was counseled by Dr. Bob and by
Anne. Each morning, he attended Quiet
Times led quite early each day by
Anne Smith at the Smith Home in Akron
where there was regular Bible study,
prayer, and requests for Godâs guidance.
At these extended sessions, Anne Smith
shared ideas from her spiritual journal
and invited discussion of the topics.
The pioneers and their families had
other meetings each day. And they
had a regular âOxford Groupâ meeting
twice each week (one as a set-up meeting).
They were encouraged to attend church
and have religious affiliations. Quiet
Time was a âmust.â The Bible was stressed
for reading. They opened their meetings
with prayer, then read Scripture,
then had discussions on how to live
according to biblical principles,
then surrendered to Jesus Christ if
they had not already done so, were
informed about newcomers still needing
help, then closed with the Lordâs
Prayer, and fellowshipped with each
other. They did observe some of the
basic Oxford Group life-changing practices,
known as the Five Câs, usually with
Dr. Bob. And they often stayed in
the homes of Dr. Bob and Anne (and
several others in the Akron area)
until they were well enough to sally
forth.

A
Day with the Akron A.A. Pioneers

Most
of our information sources have never
seen the light of day as far as the
average AA is concerned. For the most
part, AAs usually donât know about,
and probably have never even seen,
Anne Smithâs Journal, or the books
of Dr. Bobâs Library, or the transcripts
of Akron old-timer tapes that are
lodged in GSO archives in New York,
or the papers of old-timers like Clarence
Snyder and Bob E. Most have little
or no knowledge of the four AA of
Akron pamphlets that have been on
sale for a number of years in Akron
and Cleveland. But a few of us have
had the opportunity to interview some
of the survivors of our earliest days,
or their immediate friends or families.
And the results enable a picture,
albeit reconstructed by this author,
of what a single day in the Akron
fellowship in the period from 1935
to 1938, and even after, was really
like.

Early
Morning Quiet Time at Dr. Bobâs Home

Letâs
start with Quiet Time at the home
of Dr. Bob and Anne Smith. And see
Appendix One in the syllabus accompanying
this presentation for even more details.

Dr. Bobâs daughter told me in person
that the âguysâ who came over [to
the Smith Home] often said they were
coming to Anne Smithâs quiet times
for âspiritual pablum.â Letâs start
with some of the documented descriptions
of Anneâs early morning Quiet Times,
and also Quiet Times conducted by
other pioneers individually and in
groups:

He [an alcoholic] must have devotions
every morningâa âquiet timeâ of prayer
and some reading from the Bible and
other religious literature. Unless
this is faithfully followed, there
is grave danger of backsliding [From
the report of Rockefellerâs investigator
Frank Amos, published in DR. BOB and
the Good Oldtimers, p. 131].

The A.A. members of that time did
not consider meetings necessary to
maintain sobriety. They were simply
âdesirable.â Morning devotion and
âquiet time,â however, were musts
(DR. BOB, p. 136).

Daily Quiet Time. This cannot be emphasized
too much. Not a day should be missed.
The early morning hours are best.
It may be that more than one quiet
time will be needed during the day.
Whenever need arises one should stop
and pray and listen. The method of
holding quiet time varies some with
each individual. All include prayer
and Bible reading and study and patient
listening to God [From Anne Smithâs
journal. Quoted in Dick B., Anne Smithâs
Journal, 1933-1939, 3rd ed., p. 61;
see also Dick B., Good Morning! Quiet
Time, Morning Watch, Meditation, and
Early A.A., 2d ed., pp. 6-9].

At that time [when âDad and Mom and
Bill were working out the programâ]
I [Dr. Bobâs daughter Sue] was getting
involved with the quiet times they
had in the morning. The guys would
come, and Mom would have quiet time
with them. There was a cookie salesman
and heâd bring the stale cookies over,
and weâd take up a collection for
three pounds of coffee for 29 cents.
Theyâd have their quiet time, which
is a holdover from the Oxford Group,
where they read the Bible, prayed
and listened, and got guidance. Then
theyâd have coffee and cookies. This
was early in the morning, when the
sky was starting to get light. Sometimes
theyâd get us out of bed to do this
[Bob Smith and Sue Smith Windows,
Children of the Healer, pp. 43-44;
Dick B., Anne Smithâs Journal, p.
54].

Sue also remembered the quiet time
in the morningsâhow they sat around
reading the Bible. Later, they also
used The Upper Room, a Methodist publication
that provided a daily inspirational
message, interdenominational in its
approach. âThen somebody said a prayer,â
she recalled. âAfter that, we were
supposed to say one to ourselves.
Then weâd be quiet. Finally, everybody
would share what they got or didnât
get. This lasted for at least a half
hour and sometimes went as long as
an hourâ [DR. BOB, pp. 71-72; Dick
B., The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics
Anonymous, pp. 204-08].

[John R., Akron pioneer, remembered]
Before one of these meetings [at Dr.
Bobâs home in the morning], Anne used
to pull out a little book [her spiritual
journal] and quote from it. We would
discuss it. Then we would see what
Anne would suggest from it for our
discussion [Dick B., The Akron Genesis
of A.A., p. 110; Anne Smithâs Journal,
p. 56]

And hereâs a tiny segment from Anneâs
journal. Itâs one of over 100. Now,
just picture a reading from the Bible
at Anneâs function. Then a prayer.
Then a Quiet Time, sharing what was
received. Then Anneâs reading the
following from her journal and inviting
discussion of the remarks:

Confession. Donât be shocked at any
confession. It is hypocritical for
you yourself have at least thought
of doing something similar. A man
may share many problems, but not his
deepest one. You must share deeply
with him, UNDER GUIDANCE; you may
be guided to share your deepest sin,
and this will clear the way for him
to share his. The time will come when
he will begin to tell you things about
himself that he doesnât tell to others.
Why are people so afraid to face their
deepest problems? Because they think
there is no answer. When they learn
there is one, they will believe it
can work out for them, and they will
be really honest about themselves.
When we fail to share, people think
their sin is unique, but sharing lifts
a tremendous load. It is absolutely
necessary to face people with the
moral test [absolute honesty, purity,
unselfishness, and love]. Fundamentally,
sin is independence toward God, living
without God. Seeing oneâs self as
God sees one, brings hatred out of
sin [From A.A. General Service Archives
copy, p. 4].

What
Next?

Iâm
not sure we can state precisely what
happened every moment in the course
of a pioneer day, but we do know certain
facts for sure.

Hospital visits with newcomers: Teams
of AAs (many called themselves the
âalcoholic squad of the Oxford Groupâ)
visited newcomers who had been hospitalized
at the Akron City Hospital. The visitors
told their stories. They told the
newcomer that Dr. Bob had the answer
to their problems. Sometimes they
even gobbled up the food the hospitalized
âpigeonâ was unable to stomach. Dr.
Bob also visited the patient each
day. By his own account: âI used to
go to the hospital and stand there
and talk. I talked many a time to
a chap in the bed for five or six
hours.â On the final day, Dr. Bob
would make sure the newcomer believed
in God and then would have him get
out of bed, get down on his knees,
and âmake surrender.â That meant accepting
Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour [The
Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous,
p. 12; Dick B., That Amazing Grace,
pp. 25-27; The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics
Anonymous, 2d ed., pp 188-89, 192-97;
The Golden Text of A.A.: God, the
Pioneers, and Real Spirituality, pp.
31-32]. Warren C., who came to A.A.
in Cleveland in July, 1939, said of
hospitalization: This was so much
a part of the treatment that âthere
was considerable debate about whether
he [Warren C.] should be admitted
to the Fellowship since he had not
been hospitalizedâ [DR. BOB and the
Good Oldtimers, pp. 102, 109-10].

Daily meetings: [Dr.] Bob said, âWe
used to have daily meetings at a friendâs
house [the home of T. Henry Williams
in Akron]. All this happened at a
time when everybody was broke, awfully
broke. It was probably much easier
for us to be successful when broke
that it would have been if weâd had
a checking account apiece. We were,
every one of us, so painfully broke.
. . I think now that it was providentially
arranged. Until 1940, or maybe early
1941, we held the Akron meetings at
the residence of that good friend,
who allowed us to bang up the plaster
and the doorjambs, carting chairs
upstairs and downstairs. Then we outgrew
that [The Co-Founders, pp. 13-14].
Since many lived at the Smith home
itself as well as at several other
A.A. homes, and since none was prospering,
historian Ernest Kurtz opined that,
in hindsight, most of their waking
lives was a continuous A.A. meeting
[Kurtz, Not-God, p. 56]. Focused as
he was on his own not-God thesis,
Kurtz seemingly missed the more insightful
observations as to the nature of these
meetings by Dr. Bob, by early AAs,
and by other observers at that day.
But Dr. Bob specifically characterized
every meeting as a âChristian Fellowship.â
[DR. BOB, p. 118; Dick B., The Akron
Genesis of A.A., pp. 219-20]. Akron
old-timer Bob E., both in a letter
to Wilsonâs secretary Nell Wing and
in a memo to Billâs wife Lois, said
Dr. Bob referred to A.A. as a âChristian
Fellowshipâ [Dick B., The Akron Genesis
of Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 220, fn
4] The Oxford Group itself was âA
First Century Christian Fellowshipâ
[Dick B., The Oxford Group & Alcoholics
Anonymous]. AAs themselves perceived
this Christian fellowship emphasis
where Bible study, prayer, use of
Christian devotionals, and reading
of Christian literature were stressed,
along with breaking bread together
[See Acts 1:13-14; 2:41-47; 4:32-37;
10:34-48; 12:26-49; DR. BOB and the
Good Oldtimers, pp. 135-36]. For Sam
Shoemaker had often written of the
importance of Christian fellowship,
quoting in many cases from the Book
of Acts [See Dick B., New Light on
Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker and
A.A., pp. 59-60]. Early AAs such as
Bob E. were speaking of living âChristian
fellowshipâ [See Kurtz, Not-God, p.
55]. And outside observers commented
on the similarity between Akronâs
old-fashioned prayer fellowship and
First Century Christianity [See DR.
BOB, pp. 129, 131, 135-36; Pass It
On, p. 184; Thomsen, Bill W., p. 282].

Other
Daily Happenings in Early Akron A.A.

Input
from Anne and Henrietta: In addition
to the quiet times, hospital visits,
and frequent meetings, the pioneers
were beneficiaries of the efforts
of Anne Smith and Henrietta Seiberling
personally. Anne was legendary in
her work with new people. She acted
as counselor, nurse, evangelist, and
teacher; and the pioneers had great
confidence in her love and advice.
She often shared important Bible passages
with them. She used the phone much
to keep in touch with those who were
not actually present at the Smith
home. Henrietta Seiberling paid daily
visits to the Smith home, kept in
touch by phone, and shared many important
Bible and Oxford Group ideas with
the early people and their families
[See chapter by Dick B. on Henrietta
Seiberling, Women Pioneers in 12 Step
Recovery (MN: Hazelden, 1999), pp.
25-41].

Individual reading and study: Individual
AAs did a great deal of reading on
their own. The Upper Room was a major
guide. So was The Runnerâs Bible.
And daily Bible study, prayer and
Quiet Time were important aspects
of their spiritual growth and understanding.
The number of Christian books in wide
circulation and use is quite astounding
compared to the situation in A.A.
today (See Dick B., Dr. Bob and His
Library, and The Books Early AAs Read
for Spiritual Growth, 7th ed.).

Religious comradeship: There most
assuredly was socialization and socializing,
but such words has been used in confusing
ways by recent commentators as a substitute
for what A.A. Trustee-to-be Frank
Amos more appropriately called religious
comradeship. For it appears that fellowship
and comradeship with believers was
far more important in those earliest
days than mere social activity. The
pioneers and their families were deadly
serious, and they took their reliance
on our Creator very seriously and
shared it in religious fellowship.

The
âRegularâ Meetings

The
Unique Focus in Akron: Simplicity
was the watch word. And prayer was
the focus.

If you do as I did, and examine the
kind of meetings Dr. Bob attended
as a youth in Christian Endeavor,
you can see how much Akron A.A. resembled
the Christian Endeavor program of
Dr. Bobâs youth (See Dick B., Dr.
Bob and His Library, Appendix 1, âDr.
Bobâs Biblical and Christian Background,â
pp. 111-19; Clark, Christian Endeavor
in All Lands, supra). In an apparent
effort to stigmatize the Oxford Groupâs
acknowledged and very clear influence
on A.A. and then to develop excuses
for A.A.âs departure from the Oxford
Group, commentators (including Bill
Wilson himself) have ignored the startling
difference between Akron A.A., New
York A.A., and regular Oxford Group
meetings of the 1930's. Akron was
just plain different! In Akron, there
was no Calvary Church where either
Frank Buchman or Sam Shoemaker called
the shots. There were no Calvary House
meetings adjacent to the church of
the dynamic Sam Shoemaker. In fact,
there was no Sam Shoemaker doing the
mentoring. There were no âteamsâ or
âhousepartiesâ or even the kind of
âsharingâ that was so typical of the
Oxford Group activity.

The âold fashioned prayer meetingâ:
A typical Akron meeting began with
prayer. And the prayer was not the
Serenity Prayer so widely used at
the beginning of todayâs A.A. meetings.
Akronâs meetings ended with the Lordâs
Prayer. There was usually an open
Bible present, with the meetingâs
leader reading Scripture to the group.
There were prayers during the meetings.
There were announcements about newcomers
in the hospital who needed visitation
by the âalcoholic squadron.â. There
often was reading from a devotional
such as The Upper Room. There were
brief group Quiet Times, but these
were hardly peculiar to the Oxford
Group. For such âQuiet Timeâ has been
observed in the morning, in one form
or another, from the earliest Bible
days (See Dick B., Good Morning!:
Quiet Time, Morning Watch, Meditation,
and Early A.A.). Quiet Time was widely
prevalent in the world-wide Student
Christian Movement, the YMCA, Christian
Endeavor, and the teachings of F.
B. Meyerâ-who influenced all the foregoing
movements. It was observed in the
Christian Endeavor meetings Dr. Bob
attended as a youth and in the practices
Sam Shoemaker advocated in his books.
Sam, along with other religious leaders,
first called the practice The Morning
Watch, and later, Quiet Time. It meant
prayer, Bible study, quiet time for
receiving Godâs guidance, confession
of Jesus Christ, and focus on fellowship.
It did not mean âsharingâ of experience,
strength, and hopeâas the Oxford Group
generally so often did, and as New
York meetings began to emphasize.
Particularly significant is the fact
that early Akron A.A. meetings did
not have âdrunkalogs.â The focus was
on God, the Bible, and communicating
with our Creator as His children.

Bible reading: Picture Dr. Bobâs tall,
stern figure opening up his Bible
and then reading one of the following
passages to the groupâfrom portions
that Dr. Bob and the old-timers considered
âabsolutely essentialâ:

Ye have heard that it hath been said,
Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and
hate thine enemy. But I say unto you,
Love your enemies, bless them that
curse you, do good to them that hate
you, and pray for them which despitefully
use you, and persecute you. That ye
may be the children of your Father
which is in heaven. . . . [From Jesusâs
Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:43-45].

Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon earth, where moth and rust doth
corrupt, and where thieves break through
to steal; But lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where neither
moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves do not break through nor steal:
For where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also. The light
of the body is the eye: if therefore
thine eye be single, thy whole body
shall be full of light. But if thine
eye be evil, thy whole body shall
be full of darkness. If therefore
the light that is in thee be darkness,
how great is that darkness. No man
can serve two masters: for either
he will hate the one, and love the
other; or else he will hold to the
one, and despise the other. Ye cannot
serve God and mammon [From Jesusâs
sermon, Matthew 6:19-24].

Charity (agape love) suffereth long,
and is kind; charity envieth not;
charity vaunteth not itself, is not
puffed up. Doth not behave itself
unseemly, seeketh not her own, is
not easily provoked, thinketh no evil:
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth
in the truth [1 Corinthians 13:4-6].

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation:
for when he is tried, he shall receive
the crown of life which the Lord hath
promised to them that love him. Let
no man say when he is tempted, I am
tempted of God: for God cannot be
tempted with evil, neither tempteth
he any man; But every man is tempted
when he is drawn away of his own lust,
and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived,
it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when
it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Do not err, my beloved brethren [James
1:12-16].

No talk of drinking, or of ninety
meetings in ninety days. No psychobabble,
chatter about relationships, or deadly
fatalism. Just reading what God has
said on the important subjects of
love, service to God, walking in the
love of God, and resisting temptation.
What a day that would have been! What
a day it could be in our time!

The Surrenders âUpstairsâ: You had
to make surrender, whether at the
hospital or at a regular meeting when
people were taken upstairs to be prayed
over by the âelders.â New York did
not have surrenders patterned on the
Book of James. Nor at its meetings
was there acceptance of Christ on
your knees, group prayer to have alcohol
taken out of your life, or group prayer
over the newcomer that he might live
according to the teachings of Jesus
Christ.

Akron A.A.âs specific focus on overcoming
alcoholism: There is no evidence I
have seen that New York meetings or
East Coast Oxford Group meetings,
as such, involved announcements about,
or actual visitation of, the newcomer
in the hospitalâvisitation in groups
as the âalcoholic squadâ did in Akron.
(However Bill W.âs earlier months
of sobriety in New York certainly
did involve visits to Towns Hospital,
Calvary Mission, etc.). There is no
evidence of any focus in Akron on
âteamâ life-changing such as that
in which Bill Wilson participated
in New York in late 1935 when he was
handling the business-men contacts
in the huge Oxford Group meetings
for League of Nations President Hambro,
whom Frank Buchman had brought to
the United States (See Dick B., Turning
Point: A History of the Spiritual
Roots of Alcoholics Anonymous; New
Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker,
and A.A., 2d ed. I am not one of those
who claims, believes, or has found
any evidence that either Frank Buchman
or Sam Shoemaker turned his back on
drunks. Iâve heard otherwise in person
from long-time Oxford Group activists
such as James Newton, Eleanor Forde
Newton, James Houck, and T. Willard
Hunter. Moreover, some of the most
famous Oxford Group books were those
by Victor Kitchen (I Was a Pagan)
and Charles Clapp, Jr. (The Big Bender)â-two
problem-drinkers who were delivered
from alcoholism in the Oxford Group.
Well known to A.A. historians also
are the stories of Rowland Hazard,
F. Shepard Cornell, Ebby Thacher,
and Bill Wilsonâ-drunks who were ministered
to within the ranks of East Coast
Oxford Group people before A.A. began.
However, the Oxford Group of the mid
and late 1930's had its focus on world-changing,
on world teams, and on changing the
lives of world leaders and nations.
By contrast, the âclandestine lodge
of the Oxford Groupâ in Akron was
for helping drunks (DR. BOB and the
Good Oldtimers, p. 121). And its precursor
became famous for helping Bud Firestone
overcome his drinking problem in Akron
(See Dick B., The Akron Genesis of
Alcoholics Anonymous, 2d ed.).

Fellowship socializing: There does
not appear to be much evidence of
fellowship socializing on the New
York scene. Yet this was regular fare
at the home of T. Henry Williams and
others in Akron on Saturday nights.
No evidence on the New York path of
recreational activities observed in
Cleveland, not long after A.A. beganâwith
bowling and baseball and huge picnics
and lots of food and coffee (See Dick
B., That Amazing Grace: The Role of
Clarence and Grace S. in Alcoholics
Anonymous, pp. 78-80).

The
Frank Amos Reports to John D. Rockefeller,
Jr.

Bill
Wilson wanted to raise money for hospital
chains, paid-workers, and literature
(Pass It On, pp 184-85). Bill was
able to see John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
Rockefeller sent Frank Amos to Akron
to see what Dr. Bob and his associates
were accomplishing. Amos thoroughly
investigated, interviewing many in
Akron, including doctors, a judge,
A.A.âs non-alcoholic teachers such
as Henrietta Seiberling and T. Henry
and Clarace Williams, and a number
of the men, their wives, and âin some
cases, their mothers.â Some details
are reported in DR. BOB and the Good
Oldtimers at pages 128 to 136. And
I made it a point to look at the original
Amos reports during research trips
to New York. As we will reiterate
in a later session, if you want to
see the highly successful pioneer
program in action, there are two basic
places to look: (1) The personal stories
of Ohio people in the First Edition
of A.A.âs Big Book. (2) The summary
of the âProgramâ by Frank Amos. It
should be underlined that Amos would
soon one of A.A.âs first non-alcoholic
trustees.

Amos said of the 110 members surveyed
in the Akron-Cleveland area a year
after his first report, âin many respects,
their meetings have taken on the form
of the meetings described in the Gospels
[sic] of the early Christians during
the first centuryâ (DR. BOB, pp. 135-136).
During an earlier meeting in Rockefellerâs
private boardroom with Rockefellerâs
associates, including Amos, Albert
Scott (chairman of the trustees of
Riverside Church) said: âWhy, this
is first-century Christianity! . .
. What can we do to help?â [Pass It
On, p. 184].

The
Amos report described the Akron âProgram.â
Amos said it was being carried out
faithfully by the Akron group. The
men in the group, he said, all looked
to Dr. Bob for leadership. And these
were the specifics Amos set forth
about the program (DR. BOB, p. 131):

â¢
An alcoholic must realize that he
is an alcoholic, incurable from a
medical viewpoint, and that he must
never drink anything with alcohol
in it.

â¢ He must surrender himself absolutely
to God, realizing that in himself
there is no hope.

â¢ Not only must he want to stop drinking
permanently, he must remove from his
life other sins such as hatred, adultery,
and others which frequently accompany
alcoholism. Unless he will do this
absolutely, Smith and his associates
refuse to work with him.

â¢ He must have devotions every morningâa
âquiet timeâ of prayer and some reading
from the Bible and other religious
literature. Unless this is faithfully
followed, there is grave danger of
backsliding.

â¢ He must be willing to help other
alcoholics get straightened out. This
throws up a protective barrier and
strengthens his own willpower and
convictions.

â¢ It is important, but not vital,
that he meet frequently with other
reformed alcoholics and form both
a social and a religious comradeship.

â¢ Important, but not vital, that he
attend some religious service at least
once weekly.

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